Cape Town is one of the most violent cities in the world

Cape Town has continued to improve its position on the global ranking of the 50 most violent cities in the world – despite an increase in the city’s murder rate.

Still the most violent city in South Africa, Cape Town now ranks 15th on a list compiled by the Mexican Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice.

The report lists the 50 most violent cities by the number of murders per 100,000 people, only considering cities with populations exceeding 300,000, where murder statistics are made available.

In the 2016/17 iteration, Cape Town ranked 13th with a murder rate of 60.8 per 100,000 people. In 2017/18, the city’s murder rate was 62.3 per 100,000 people. In terms of the sheer number of murders, Cape Town has the third highest tally among the top 50, with just under 2,500 murders recorded over the period.

As with previous years, the list is dominated by South American cities, where murder rates have climbed in the past year. Los Cabos in Mexico has supplanted the previous ‘most violent’ city, with a murder rate of 111.33 per 100,000 people – but only marginally higher than the former number one, Cracas, Venezuela, which has a murder rate of 111.19 per 100,000.

While these murder rates are the highest in the world, they are still lower than the highs seen in 2016/17, where Caracas hit as high 130 murders per 100,000 people.

In South Africa, only two other cities were listed outside of Cape Town: Durban, and Nelson Mandela Bay.

Durban’s murder rate, like Cape Town’s, increased from 34.4 per 100,000 in 2016/17 to 38.1 per 100,000 in 2017/18 – meanwhile, Nelson Mandela Bay’s murder rate improved from 39.2 per 100,000 to 37.5 per 100,000, losing its spot as the second most violent city in the country.

Despite its reputation for high levels of crime, Johannesburg’s murder rate was not high enough to be ranked among the top 50. Joburg was last featured in the ranking in 2015, when it was ranked 47th.

Most violent cities in South Africa (murder rate)

City

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Cape Town

51.0

60.0

65.5

60.8

62.3

Nelson Mandela Bay

35.7

>34.9

35.8

39.2

37.5

Durban

32.4

34.7

35.9

34.4

38.1

Johannesburg

–

–

33.3

29.4

–

Most violent cities in South Africa (ranking)

City

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Cape Town

34th

27th

20th

14th

9th

13th

15th

Nelson Mandela Bay

41st

38th

41st

35th

42nd

43rd

46th

Durban

49th

46th

48th

38th

41st

50th

44th

Johannesburg

50th

–

–

–

47th

–

–

Of the 50 cities in the ranking, 17 are located in Brazil (down from 19 in 2016), 12 in Mexico (up from 8), 5 in Venezuela (down from 7), 4 in the United States, 3 in Colombia (down from 4), 3 in South Africa, and 2 in Honduras, and 1 each in El Salvador, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Jamaica.

The overwhelming majority of the 50 most violent cities in the world are in Latin America (42 cities).